The Odd Couple. Really Odd.

We went to see The Odd Couple on Broadway last night. First of all, I never take for granted the fact that I live within walking distance of the theater district and people travel from all over the world to come see broadway shows. Secondly, when spending about $200 for the evening, I expect it to be worthwhile; breaking down to about $50 an hour for a 2 hour show. Thirdly, knowing that Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, starring in the show, sold out the entire run ($21 million in ticket sales!), I figured it was a good chance that I would walk away loving the show.

We had amazing seats (I'm the dork that was online at 10AM when the tickets went on sale) and were in the 3rd row. However, because of the close angle, we couldn't see past a table that was on stage or some action going on that was on top of the table. That aside, it was like having the actors in your own living room we were so close! It was fun to see Brad Garrett (cop from "Everybody Loves Raymond") and Lane and Broderick got a warm welcome upon their entrance. That was the highlight of the show. Matthew Broderick has the challenge of playing this stiff, anal-retentive character, but I literally heard him slipping in and out (from line to line) of this whiny voice he had created for the character. He was really stiff, as he should be, but so stiff that it was as if you could see the gears in his head turning... "Ok now I move to this side of the stage and put my glass down." It was a really awkward performance, funny only at times, and there was no 'pizzazz' between Oscar (Lane) and Felix (Broderick). When they were supposed to get under each's skin, I didn't buy it. Nathan Lane was hysterical at times, good at playing a guy who was a slob, but I almost felt there was over-delivery of his lines to compensate for the under-performance of Broderick.

I think part of the problem is the play itself really relies on perfect chemistry between the leads, but something was missing. I walked away dissapointed that we shelled out so much money for the tickets (we could've sold them on eBay for close to $400 a piece!), and woke up this morning thinking my favorite part was the huge Kit Kat (we're talking 8 bars!) we shared at intermission.